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WASHINGTON — The Senate yesterday rejected a Republican amendment to the immigration measure that would have prohibited undocumented aliens from gaining legal status until the Department of Homeland Security could show it had “effective control” of the borders for six months.

The proposal, offered by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), was defeated 57-43. It was the first of dozens of amendments proposed to a revision of immigration law to receive a vote on the Senate floor.

“This amendment is the first of many that will improve the bill and that will do what the authors of the bill say they want to do: secure the border,” Grassley said. “As we read the details of the bill, it’s clear that the approach taken is legalize first, enforce later.”

The Senate bill would create a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented US immigrants while tightening security at the border with Mexico.

Republicans including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a co-sponsor of the bill, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have said the bill’s border-security elements must be strengthened to win their vote.

The legislation would allow undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria to apply for legal status six months after it is enacted, once Homeland Security submits plans for securing the border.

Grassley’s amendment would have barred anyone from obtaining that status until the department had certified that the borders had been secured for six months.